Manuel Garcia (John Singer Sargent 1905)

Manuel Patricio Rodríguez García (17 March 1805 – 1 July 1906), was a Spanish singer, music educator, and vocal pedagogue. He invented the first

laryngoscope Laryngoscopy () is endoscopy of the larynx, a part of the throat. It is a medical procedure that is used to obtain a view, for example, of the vocal folds and the glottis. Laryngoscopy may be performed to facilitate tracheal intubation during ge ...

Biography

García was born on 17 March 1805 either in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, as has been traditionally stated, or in the town of

Zafra Zafra () is a town situated in the Province of Badajoz (Extremadura, Spain), and the capital of the comarca of Zafra - Río Bodión. It has a population of 16,677, according to the 2011 census. Zafra is the hometown of Fray Ruy Lopez, author ...

Badajoz Province The province of Badajoz () is a province of western Spain located in the autonomous community of Extremadura. It was formed in 1833. It is bordered by the provinces of Cáceres in the north, Toledo, Ciudad Real in the east, Córdoba in the s ...

, Spain. His father was singer and teacher Manuel del Pópulo Vicente Rodriguez García (Manuel García I, 1775–1832). His sisters were

Maria Malibran Maria Felicia Malibran (24 March 1808 – 23 September 1836) was a Spanish singer who commonly sang both contralto and soprano parts, and was one of the best-known opera singers of the 19th century. Malibran was known for her stormy personality ...

(1808–1836) and

Pauline Viardot Pauline Viardot (; 18 July 1821 – 18 May 1910) was a nineteenth-century French mezzo-soprano, pedagogue and composer of Spanish descent. Born Michelle Ferdinande Pauline García, her name appears in various forms. When it is not simply "Pauli ...

(1821–1910). After abandoning his onstage career as a

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

, García began to teach at the

Paris Conservatory The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

(1830–48) and the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

, London (1848–95).

Jessie Bond Jessie Charlotte Bond (10 January 1853 – 17 June 1942) was an English singer and actress best known for creating the mezzo-soprano soubrette roles in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas. She spent twenty years on the stage, the bulk of th ...

Camille Everardi Camille Everardi (1824–1899) was a Belgian operatic baritone who had an active international career during the 1850s through the 1870s. He particularly excelled in the works of Vincenzo Bellini and Gioachino Rossini. Several music critics of h ...

Erminia Frezzolini Erminia Frezzolini (27 March 1818 – 5 November 1884) was an Italian operatic soprano. She excelled in the coloratura soprano repertoire, drawing particular acclaim in the bel canto operas of Gaetano Donizetti and Vincenzo Bellini. She was marri ...

Julius Günther Julius Günther (1 March 1818 – 22 March 1904) was an opera singer, choral conductor and voice teacher in Stockholm, Sweden. Biography Julius Günther was born in Gothenburg, the son of organist Georg Günther. He began a career with the Älv ...

Jenny Lind Johanna Maria "Jenny" Lind (6 October 18202 November 1887) was a Swedish opera singer, often called the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she performed in soprano roles in opera in Sweden and a ...

Mathilde Marchesi Mathilde Marchesi (née Graumann; 24 March 1821 – 17 November 1913) was a German mezzo-soprano, a singing teacher, and a proponent of the bel canto vocal method. Biography Marchesi was born in Frankfurt. Her father's last name was Graumann; ...

, Christina Nilsson, Julia Ettie Crane,

Julius Stockhausen The gens Julia (''gēns Iūlia'', ) was one of the most prominent patrician (ancient Rome), patrician families in ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Roman Republic, Republic ...

Marie Tempest Dame Mary Susan Etherington, (15 July 1864 – 15 October 1942), known professionally as Marie Tempest, was an English singer and actress. Tempest became a famous soprano in late Victorian light opera and Edwardian musical comedies. Later, sh ...

Charles Santley Sir Charles Santley (28 February 1834 – 22 September 1922) was an English opera and oratorio singer with a ''bravura''From the Italian verb ''bravare'', to show off. A florid, ostentatious style or a passage of music requiring technical skill ...

and

Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introducing hund ...

were among his pupils. He invented a

in 1854 and the next year published observations of his own

larynx The larynx (), commonly called the voice box, is an organ in the top of the neck involved in breathing, producing sound and protecting the trachea against food aspiration. The opening of larynx into pharynx known as the laryngeal inlet is about ...

and

vocal cords In humans, vocal cords, also known as vocal folds or voice reeds, are folds of throat tissues that are key in creating sounds through vocalization. The size of vocal cords affects the pitch of voice. Open when breathing and vibrating for speech ...

made with a small dental mirror introduced into the throat and using sunlight reflected by another mirror. He has been credited with saving the career of Jenny Lind, who had suffered vocal damage from overwork in her early twenties. García was interested in movements connected with the production of the singing voice and did not anticipate the importance of laryngoscopy for medicine. Still, the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg (german: Albertus-Universität Königsberg) was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke Albert of Prussi ...

conferred upon him the honorary degree of

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...

He died in London in 1906 at the age of 101 years and was buried in the churchyard of St. Edward's Catholic church in Sutton Green, Surrey. His grave gives details of his many famous pupils and accomplishments. On 22 November 1832 in Paris García married the operatic soprano Cécile Eugénie Mayer (Paris, 8 April 1814 – Paris, 12 August 1880). They had two sons Manuel (1836–1885) Gustave (1837–1925) and two daughters, Eugenie Harouel (1840–1924) and Marie Crèpet (1842–1867). His second son

Gustave Garcia Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to: * Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin Art, entertainment, and media * ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film * ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short car ...

(1 February 1837 – 1925) was a singer, actor, and author of three books on vocal and stage techniques. Gustave's son, Albert García (1875–1946), studied voice with his great aunt (

), became a respected baritone, and produced an edition of his grandfather's treatise on singing (1924). From second wife Beata Elena Rodriguez (+ 19 April 1917) were born 2 daughters, Paula (+ 1 May 1960) wife from 1901 of Major George McKenzie Franks (1868–1958) – and Manuela Beata Carmen (+ 5 March 1924).

Works

* ''Mémoire sur la voix humaine présenté à l'Académie des Sciences en 1840''. Paris: Duverger, 1847. * ''Ecole de García: traité complet de l'art du chant par Manuel García fils''. Mayence, Paris: Schott 1840 (Teil 1), 1847 (Teil 2).
''Tratado completo del arte del canto''. Lucía Díaz Marroquín y Mario Villoria (eds.). Kassel: Reichenberger, 2012.
(Annotated edition in Spanish). * ''Garcías Schule oder Die Kunst des Gesanges in allen ihren Theilen vollst. abgehandelt von Manuel García. ''Deutscher Text von C. Wirth. Mainz: Schott, 1841; auch in zwei Teilen in der Zeitschrift ''Caecilia''; ''Erster Theil'', in Band 22 (1843), Heft 85; ''Zweiter Theil'' in Band 26 (1847), Heft 104
Digitalisat
* ''Ecole de García: traité complet de l'art du chant''. (Band 1 und 2 zusammen). Mayence, Paris: Schott 1856. * A complete treatise on the art of singing, part two by M. García II. Second part, complete and unabridged, the editions of 1847 and 1872 collated, ed. and transl. by Donald V. Paschke. Reprint of the 1872 edition. New York: Da Capo Press, 1975. . . (Note: Includes bibliographies).

Genealogy

References

;Notes ;Sources
"Manuel Patricio García, el científico del ''bel canto''" RTVE La 2. Documentary (3:55 min.)
* Malcolm Sterling Mackinlay: ''Garcia the centenarian and his times, being a memoir of Manuel Garcia's life and labours for the advancement of music and science''. Edinburgh and London: Blackwood, 1908 (accessible for free online i
Internet Archive
reprint: ''García the centenarian and his times''. New York: Da Capo Pr., 1976).

. * Byron Cantrell: ''Hints on singing by Manuel Patricio Rodríguez García''. Introd. by Byron Cantrell. Canoga Park, Calif.: Summit Publ. Co., 1970. Reprint of the edition London, New York 1894 (Translated from French). * April Fitzlyon, ''Garcia, Manuel (Patricio Rodriguez)'', in Stanley Sadie (ed): ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera''. New York: Grove (Oxford University Press), 1997 (II, p. 345). .

External links

europavox.org
a website and research project devoted to the voice. Includes information on several members of the García family.
Garcia the Centenarian And His Times, by M. Sterling Mackinley at gutenberg.org
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Manuel 1805 births 1906 deaths Spanish music educators Spanish operatic baritones Spanish inventors Spanish centenarians Academics of the Royal Academy of Music University of Königsberg alumni Conservatoire de Paris faculty Spanish expatriates in Germany Spanish expatriates in France 19th-century Spanish male opera singers Men centenarians